A Winter Skate
by The Needless Lobsters
Summary: It's getting close to Christmas at Camp Half-Blood, but the demigods aren't really thinking about that. Actually, they're pretty bored now, so they want to do something to get rid of that. And what better way to cure boredom than to go out skating? Li'l bit of Solangelo in there, with the typical Big Three boys being bros.


**Hey, guys! It's been aaaaaaaaages since I last had the time to post something on here, but I managed to do something! Finally!  
>I decided to take a shot at writing another Percy Jackson christmas-snow-y themed oneshot, because of Christmas and winter and yup. I hope you guys enjoy it, and have a very Merry Christmas!<strong>

**Oh, and I'm considering doing a sequel of this, or turning it into a two-shot, but I'd like to see what you guys think first. So, after you read this fic, please review and tell me what you think? That would be awesome!**

**Anyway, read on!**

* * *

><p>"Do we HAVE to do something?" Nico asked as he lay back on the bed. To be completely honest, he was the only one that got away with laying on pretty much any of the bunks in the Poseidon cabin - other than Annabeth, of course and Frank. The rivalry was too strong for Jason to stay in there for longer than half an hour, Hazel preferred to sit on the floor, and the others didn't really feel all to comfortable sitting anywhere other than on the beanbags that Percy had requested to be put in the cabin.<p>

Piper shrugged from her position curled up beside Jason on one of the beanbags, ignoring the slight moody pout on her boyfriend's face. "It would be a good idea, though," she pointed out.

Nico scowled at Piper a little, although it faded at the raised eyebrow Jason gave him.

"I think it's a great idea," Will agreed from where he sat on the floor beside the bunk Nico lay on, seemingly messing with a guitar (it was one of his siblings' guitars, and he wasn't sure whose, but he'd been asked to tune it for them.) "You could bond with people."

"You don't even like ice skating," Nico pointed out.

Will frowned at him. "How do you know?"

"You're a son of Apollo. It's obvious."

"Okay, love-birds, enough of the gooey talk," Percy teased with a grin, stifling a laugh at the blushes that appeared on their faces. "Besides, it doesn't have to be ice skating."

"But it's festive, right?" Frank pointed out. "That means it would be a pretty good idea."

"It also means that it would be popular, and crowded," Annabeth pointed out. "Problems there."

"But it would be fun," Piper argued. "Come on... it would be great!"

Hazel nodded, smiling when Frank and Will did the same.

Annabeth glanced up at Percy, who shrugged.

"I guess it's a good idea."

Nico huffed, trying not to groan. "Fine... if you guys insist..." he muttered.

* * *

><p>When the group reached the skating rink, it wasn't as busy as they'd assumed. In fact, it was far less busy. Which surprised them, because usually people visited the place a lot more when it was approaching Christmas.<p>

After a lot of deliberating and debating, the group had finally decided upon going to the Trump Rink in Central Park, which had been Annabeth's idea. The place wasn't too far from camp, meaning that they weren't in too much danger if they had to return as soon as possible, and the place seemed nice enough. It was also in Central Park, which was very beautiful around this time of year, and the ice rink was quite amazing.

"Maybe everyone's gone Christmas shopping?" Will suggested as the group walked over to the counter to buy some time on the ice. "I mean, it's getting close to Christmas, right?" The son of Apollo was all wrapped up in winter clothes, wearing a thick orange winter jacket, a black winter scarf, and a woolly hat atop his head, along with tracksuit bottoms and black trainers, and Nico was pretty sure he was wearing layers underneath all that. What amused the son of Hades most was that Will had not thought to wear gloves, which meant that his hands - the part of this body that would get cold the quickest - weren't covered. To be honest, the blonde looked like an eskimo - something that Percy hadn't hesitated to point out and had promptly got punched for.

"It's also dark," Piper added. "With few lights. Who would go skating in the dark?" Like Will, she had thought to pack warmly so that she wouldn't get cold, but she had been much more resourceful. She wore a fluffy white winter hat, with a pale blue winter jacket, white gloves, black winter boots, and a blue snood (when explaining what it was to Jason and Percy, she hadn't failed to notice the sniggers and stifles of laughter at the names - honestly). She only wore a jumper and dark jeans underneath, but the jumper was thick, and she had a pair of tights and a t-shirt on under that.

"I would," Nico muttered. He was probably the one in the group with the least layers of clothing, only wearing a black winter jacket, a black scarf, and a pair of jeans with black trainers. Being the son of Hades meant that the male was pretty used to the cold, since it was associated with darkness, and he actually preferred it a lot of the time. Besides, the guy seemed to think that his mess of curly dark hair was enough protection against the cold for his head and neck.

"Of course you would," Jason muttered, earning a small glare from the son of Hades. The blonde son of Zeus wore a dark grey winter jacket, on top of a black jumper and dark jeans (that Piper had picked out for him… not that he would tell any of the others) with a pair of black boots. He had a black inter hat on his head, but didn't wear a scarf, although he still wore gloves. Actually, the gloves had been the only thing that he'd had a choice in. Those, and the sneakers. They were black – plain black (not black boots with silver designs like Piper wanted).

"Don't start arguing, guys," Annabeth warned from where she and Hazel stood at the counter with Frank, ordering their skates and time on the ice. The blonde wore a grey winter jacket on top of her dark blue Christmas jumper (which Percy had bought her), and her dark jeans with dark winter boots - something pretty practical, as a daughter of Athena would wear. She also wore a pair of black winter gloves, but no hat, opting for a pair of ear-muffs that were currently hanging around her neck.

Hazel was dressed a little darker than Annabeth, wearing dark jeans with a dark red jacket and a wine-coloured scarf. On her hands she had a pair of black gloves, and a black hat on her head to match her winter boots. Underneath her coat, she wore a red winter jumper that Percy had bought for her (apparently, he'd been tempted to buy blue, but since he'd already got one for Annabeth, he didn't want to confuse the two gifts - especially since the two would probably have laughed at him because of it).

Frank was dressed almost as darkly as Nico (mainly because Piper said it suited him), and so had a dark winter jacket on with some dark jeans, a dark hat, some dark gloves, and a pair of dark winter boots, and he wore some kind of custom-made 'SPQR' purple jumper underneath, which Percy thought was quite weird but Jason felt was kind of cool. Percy also thought that the outfit made Frank looked like a big scary New York gangster of some sort, which Annabeth wholly agreed with, and Frank was actually quite horrified in hearing. Jason laughed at that one.

"We're not arguing," Percy protested. "We're just have a... uh..."

"Heated discussion?" Will suggested.

"Yeah, that."

"Either way, stop it," the blonde sighed as she went back to getting the skates to rent and buying time on the ice.

The others glanced at each other, before sighing. There was nothing really for them to do, since they were just waiting for their skates and time on the ice.

Soon enough, Annabeth, Frank and Hazel returned to the group, carrying various pairs of skates and four locker keys. Each of the others approached them, and began grabbing the pairs of skates that they assumed were their sizes. Then, Nico frowned.

"Why are there only four locker keys?" he asked, looking at Hazel for an explanation.

"Because there are eight of us, and it's cheaper," she answered, raising an eyebrow at her brother. "We just pair up, and share lockers. We didn't bring a lot anyway - we'll just be putting our boots in them, maybe our coats if we don't want to look at marshmallows."

No one missed the pointed look that Piper gave Will, which caused Jason and Percy to snigger.

"Wait, so we have to share?" Nico asked with a frown.

"Yeah. Annabeth said she'd go with Percy, I'm going with Frank, I'm assuming Jason will pair with Piper, leaving you and Will."

The son of Hades' face flushed bright red, and Jason grinned, grabbing a set of keys from Frank's hands and beginning to head towards the lockers.

"Good luck, Nico," he teased with a slight grin. Percy did the same thing, instead just grinning and giving Nico a wink. Frank gave Nico an apologetic smile, and the girls did the same, leaving Nico alone with Will.

Will cleared his throat awkwardly, before rubbing the back of his neck. "So, should we, uh…"

"Yes," Nico answered automatically, before beginning to head in the direction that the others had to go to the locker rooms.

* * *

><p>In about half an hour or so, the whole group had made it out onto the ice rink and were skating around, having fun with all of the other people on the ice. Hazel and Frank seemed to be the only two skating around as a couple, having fun, whilst Nico and Will seemed to be skating beside each other awkwardly, trying not to seem like a couple but not wanting to alienate each other. Especially since Will was terrible at ice skating, and Nico had to help him every few minutes to make sure that h didn't fall over.<p>

That left Percy, Jason, Annabeth and Piper.

Who had, somehow, decided to start a stupid game of 'Tag'.

To be honest, the group was lucky that there were few people on the ice that evening, because Annabeth was sure that they would have hit someone by now if it was packed. They were bad enough just skating around as a group of demigods.

That was to say, there was a lot of crashing.

Annabeth wasn't that bad. She could skate around pretty well - her balance was fairly good, and she could be fast if she wanted to, so that was alright. Piper was even better, looking almost graceful on the ice with her sharp turns and twirls.

It was Jason and Percy who were the problem, because they took the game to a whole new level.

Where the girls would merely tap each other, the guys would literally tackle each other to the ice, laughing, and the girls could only shake their heads and hope that neither of them got seriously injured.

"SURPRISE!" Percy yelled as he appeared from nowhere, taking him out pretty quickly and causing the two to crash into one of the side barriers. The girlish scream that had emerged from Jason had all of them doubled over in laughing fits.

"Gods' sake, Percy!" the blonde son of Zeus exclaimed, trying to sound angry but failing miserably. "Don't do that!"

"Why not, it's fun!" Percy was grinning at him as he skated away.

Jason scowled as he slowly got to his feet, and then began skating as quickly as he could towards the son of Poseidon. Percy responded by skating away as fast as he could, narrowly missing what seemed to be a mortal skating on the ice and causing her to spin and fall back onto her butt.

"Sorry!" Percy called back, still skating away. The female seemed to yell some sort of obscenity at him, before going on with what she'd been doing earlier.

Eventually, Jason did manage to catch him, but by that time it wasn't just the son of Zeus after him - somehow, everyone had joined in of the game of 'Tag', and it ended up with Jason, Will and Frank piling on top of Percy to hold him down, whilst the girls stood to the side, laughing. Nico just watched them all awkwardly, his hands in his pockets.

When the males deemed that they had been piled on top of each other for long enough, they climbed off, each of them heading over to their respective partners.

Will raised an eyebrow when he realised Nico was stood to the side, and he skated over to him curiously. "Are you okay there, Nico?"

The son of Hades just raised an eyebrow at Will. "Why do you ask?"

"You didn't join in."

"I'm not one for pile-ups."

"That's not the problem here." Will's eyes narrowed a little at Nico. "You're not even socialising."

The son of Hades frowned at Will, before sighing. "I don't need to deal with this," he muttered, before turning to skate away.

Will skated after him as quickly as he could, grabbing the other male's arm. "Yes, you do. I need to talk to you about this."

"About what?" Nico demanded, turning sharply to face Will. "About how, even here, I'm still an outsider? That even with these people, I know I'm different and don't fit in?!"

"Is that what you really think?"

Nico looked over Will's shoulder to see Jason and Percy standing there, staring at him. The others stood behind them, but it was those two that stood out to Nico. And Hazel, but she stood behind them. The first thing that Nico noticed was that they looked hurt - even Frank looked hurt somewhat. Jason looked extremely hurt, and Percy had a small frown on his face - obviously because he was the one who'd just spoken.

"Is it, Nico?"

Nico looked between them all with wide eyes, before turning and skating away quickly.

"Nico, wait!" Hazel called out, but it was too late. Nico was already gone.

* * *

><p>By the time the others had found Nico, the dark haired male had thrown off his skates and was sat at the base of one of the trees in the park. Of course, he blended into the shadows, so he was barely noticed.<p>

That was, until two males sat beside him.

The son of Hades looked up to see two pairs of eyes looking down at him - a pair of sea green and a pair of electric blue. One pair showed sadness, or pity, and the other showed sadness as well, but with slight frustration along with it.

Nico sighed and hugged his knees to his chest, staring down at his socks. "What?" he grumbled quietly.

Jason and Percy were quiet for a few moment, before one of them began to spoke up.

"I know how you feel," Jason said quietly, and Nico scowled.

"How do you know?" he demanded. "How do you know how I feel? You have friends, you have family, I have-"

"Friends and family," Percy interjected, raising an eyebrow at Nico. "You have us."

"You aren't anything. You barely even talk to me."

That's when Jason's eyebrows rose, and he sat back against the trees, crossing his arms. "Barely talk to you, huh?"

Percy had the same sort of expression on his face as he sat more comfortably, one leg bent with his arm resting on his knee. For some reason, he had Riptide in pen form in his hand, and was spinning it in his hand absentmindedly.

There was silence for a few moments, before Jason spoke up again.

"You know, I was abandoned when I was two," the blonde suddenly spoke up, not turning to look at either of the other two. "I grew up thinking I was the only Big Three kid alive. No one understood me, I only had a few true friends..."

"The one person I thought was my friend betrayed me," Percy said quietly, still messing with the pen. "He tried to poison me. You were the one other demigod I knew was a Big Three kid... and I thought you hated me. At least, for some time." He cracked a small, sad smile. "The end of the world... well, the first time, at least, was going to be my sixteenth birthday."

Nico didn't get it. Why were they telling him this? This wasn't important.

"The point is, we didn't really have families, or friends," Jason explained. "I've never even been to public school. We've only ever had acquainances - Reyna, the fifth cohort, and you guys are my only friends, really."

Percy nodded in agreement, slipping his pen back into his pocket. "I only had my mom, really. And a couple of people I trusted at camp. I used to get bullied."

"We haven't always been happy people, and to be fair, we're all different." Jason smiled slightly as he looked at Nico. "But we're not as different as you think."

Nico rolled his eyes at that. "I'm from a different century," he pointed out, as if it was obvious.

"So is Hazel," Percy replied. "And she fits in just fine."

Jason placed a hand on Nico's shoulder. "Nico, you fit in whether you believe it or not. You're odd, like the rest of us."

"Besides, isn't being odd what gives you friends?" Percy asked with a small eyes.

Nico blinked at the two of them. "...Friends?" he asked slowly.

"Yeah. We're your friends... right?"

A small smile lit up Nico's face, and he looked between the two other Big Three kids. They were his friends, weren't they? People he trusted... somewhat, at least. And they seemed to care for him, if they'd come over to look for him. No one had done that for him before.

Just as he was about to agree with the two of them, there was a rustling and a familiar call - distinctly male - before someone came into view.

"Percy? Jason? Have you found Nico y-" Will stopped when he saw the three demigods sitting by a tree, seemingly conversing. He blinked, looking between the three, before his gaze landed on Nico. "You! Why did you-"

"Yes, it's me," Nico answered, his tone slightly cold as he raised an eyebrow at the son of Apollo. "Is there something you want?"

Percy and Jason shared a nervous glance

"We'll just leave you two to sort everything out," Percy said quickly, before jumping up. Jason quickly followed, and the two headed back towards the ice rink, leaving Will and Nico on their own.

The two males stared at each other for a little while, an awkward silence forming, before one of them started to speak.

"You know, you haven't answered my question," Nico pointed out, folding his arms and narrowing his eyes at Will.

Will just raised an eyebrow at Nico, before folding his arms and narrowing his eyes in return. "Why did you say what you said back there? You knew that you'd hurt someone, and yet you still said it."

"I didn't think I was going to hurt anyone," Nico answered stubbornly, scowling. "In fact, they weren't even supposed to be listening! If they hadn't eavesdropped in the first place then this wouldn't have—"

"Don't even start on that, Nico," Will snapped, getting truly angry for the first time since he and Nico had become… _friends_. "You haven't even _tried_ being their friend! You haven't tried being one of them! They understand you better than anyone else – especially Percy – and then you go and say _that_—"

"Percy and Jason aren't mad at me."

"No, but the others are _hurt_. You know, like _Hazel_."

Nico tensed at that, and his face fell, before he scowled darkly at Will. "Did you just come here to guilt trip me, then?"

"What, are you finally feeling guilty now?"

"You don't have any right to come and tell me how I should or shouldn't feel."

"And you have no right to come along, act like my friend, and then say something like that to my face – that you don't belong. Because you do."

"Oh yeah?" Nico took a step towards him. "Then tell me, Will, son of Apollo. Tell me where exactly I belong, because I can't seem to find a place where I _do_ belong!"

"With me!"

As soon as the words escaped from Will's mouth, a silence filled the air, and the two males stared at each other in shock. Nico was the first to break the silence after a good few minutes of just staring at each other.

"What was that…?" he asked quietly, as if he hadn't heard properly.

Will was silent for a few moments, before he spoke again. "I-I… I said… you belong with me."

Nico blinked, his jaw dropping. Did… did Will just say _that_?!

Will stared at Nico, before looking away, blushing darkly. "I… I said something wrong, didn't I?" When Nico didn't reply, the blonde turned to walk away, feeling embarrassed. "Y-you know what? Just forget I said anything. I'm going back to the rink—"

"Wait."

Will froze, still looking down.

"Don't go." Nico took a few steps closer to Will, before putting a hand gently on his shoulder. "I mean, I-I belong with you, right? You can't leave without me."

Will turned his head and looked at Nico with wide eyes, before suddenly turning fully and hugging the son of Hades tightly. He noticed how Nico tensed, but was quite surprised when the other male hugged him back, and smiled.

Maybe Nico was getting better at this socializing thing after all.

* * *

><p>When Nico and Will returned, not many people were expecting them to come back at all, let alone come back chatting amiably and walking rather <em>closely<em> to each other (if you were to ask Piper earlier, she would swear on her mother that the two were even holding hands at one point). Only Jason and Percy looked relatively un-shocked – or, rather, they looked quite amused by the situation, and shared knowing smirks with each other as Will and Nico approached.

"Nico!" Hazel cried, skating over to where he was stood at the edge of the rink with the son of Apollo. "Where have you been? I was so worried about you! I couldn't find you, and neither could the others, and then Percy and Jason came back without you, and—what have you been doing with Will?"

Nico blinked as he was bombarded with all of the questions and explanations, glancing to Frank for help, who just shrugged. "Uh…" His cheeks flushed a faint pink for a moment before the colour disappeared. "We talked."

"Quite a bit, actually," Will added, the corner of his mouth quirking up ever so slightly. The small smile disappeared as soon as he saw the smirk on Percy's face, and he narrowed his eyes a little at the son of Poseidon.

"Well, it's good that you two are back," Piper told them with a smile, although she had a questioning look on her face at the looks Will and Percy were sending each other.

Annabeth, also slightly confused but slowly beginning to put together the pieces, nodded in agreement. "How about we head back to camp now? There's a coffee shop on the way back, and we can grab hot drinks and stuff to warm up?" she suggested.

There was a general agreement of what to do amongst the group, and they began to head off, with Nico and Will at the back of the group. Percy and Jason managed to slide to the back to join them, sandwiching the pair between the two older Big Three boys.

Nico glanced up at the two, seeming rather irritated. "What?" he demanded.

"What did you two talk about?" Percy asked curiously, and Will huffed.

"None of your business, Jackson."

Jason, on the other hand, was still grinning at Nico, who was getting very irritated now.

"What do you want, Jason?"

"So… you and Solace, huh?" he asked, sending the two a wink.

Needless to say, both Percy and Jason were running for their lives when a pair of skeleton warriors burst out of the ice with swords, and the staff still don't know how a large crack appeared on their rink.


End file.
